Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean Rock 54,000 at Rose Bowl Show

Kenny Chesney plays the Rose Bowl. Photo credit: Allister Ann

Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean’s Rose Bowl appearance Saturday night (July 25) was a star-studded affair, with Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson among those in attendance for the historic show.

Nearly 54,000 fans flooded into the stadium for the show, which was co-headlined by the two. Chesney’s tour is one of the top-grossing country tours of 2015.

“Standing out there in a sea of country fans at an iconic stadium like Rose Bowl sent chills down my spine,” said Aldean. “It reminds me how lucky I am to be doing this for a living. We’ll do it again at the crack of dawn with the Today gang  on Friday…I hope to see a lot of people there too!”

In celebration of the epic night in Pasadena, Calif., Jackson surprised Chesney backstage with a commemorative brick that will be placed in the Brick Walk at the stadium’s South Main entrance, and the first-ever Rose Bowl Stadium jersey. The Rose Bowl show was obviously particularly special to Chesney being an avid football fan.

“You know when you wake up and you see that sign, you’re on hallowed ground,” Chesney said. “I’ve seen so many games played there, so much history—and I understand the heart it took from every athlete who’s ever come out of those tunnels. To stand on that stage, I knew I wanted to try to honor all those folks who’ve come before us.”

“Those folks had had a long day in all that heat, but man, they were so ready for us… ready to hear the music, to sing along, to make every single song matter,” recalls Chesney. “When I dropped out during ‘Anything But Mine,’ they sang so clear and so true, you could’ve made a record out of it—and for me, they made a memory that will last a lifetime. To play a place where football means so much, especially to an audience that live, I’ll never forget it…”

By the time he plays Denver’s Sports Authority Stadium at Mile High Aug. 8, E. New Jersey’s Met Life Stadium Aug. 15, Detroit’s Ford Field Aug. 22 and a double header at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium Aug. 28-29, Chesney will have headlined 135 stadiums since his Washington, DC/Pittsburgh/Boston stadium run in 2005.

Jason Aldean at the Rose Bowl. Photo Credit: Jim Wright